MOVING TO TUMBLR

So this is kind of a big deal (if you're coming here directly, and not from Facebook). I will be moving operations to Tumblr over the next month or so. For a time, I'll post here as well, but eventually, all Blogger operations will cease.

If you have a tumblr and would like to follow me, the URL is www.tophat-gamer.tumblr.com. I'll still be linking to Facebook, so there's that.

One thing is left to be said, I suppose.

SO LONG AND THANKS FOR ALL THE FISH. I mean.... yeah.

DMC: Devil May Cry

Before I kick this off, let me make one thing perfectly clear. I am NOT a DMC veteran. I know the basics of the story, I've played maybe half an hour of the previous games, but I'm somewhat familiar with the genre. Now, with that off my chest, let's get this review under way!

STORY
In this series reboot, you play as Dante, a young loner resigned to a life of drinking, loose women and occasionally fighting demons who drag him into their dimension (known as Limbo). After learning of his heritage and family, the Dante agrees to aid the Order (known widely as a terrorist group) in the quest to dethrone the Demon King.

The story is interesting for a few reasons. The relationship between Dante and Vergil (their constant one-upsmanship, their squabbling), the way that the heroes of the game are often demonized (ha!) by the rest of the in-game world and and the way that the demon world lurks alongside the human world in a twisted parody of it. They all add up to an memorable narrative experience.

The dialogue may not be Shakespearean in any way shape or form, but the casual nature of Dante's speech often provides hilarious moments. Sure, the swears get thrown around alot, but I think it uses them to good effect, whether showing Dante's own nonchalant attitude or one of the various demons absolute disgust at his existence.

PRESENTATION
The most striking feature, by far, are the visuals presented during the Limbo sections of the game. The standard world is grey and boring, and you know what? That makes sense. But then you're dragged into this often evil caricature of the surrounding human world. And there's bright colours, and messed up architecture. Everything gets a boost of awesome. And it often varies from place to place. A boardwalk carnival becomes an ultra-haunted house and a nightclub becomes a a neon, laser filled, smoke-machine covered realm, accompanied by techno/dubstep beats.

On the subject of beats, the soundtrack to this game is the perfect stuff to get your adrenaline pumping. Hitting the SSS rank combos whilst rocking out to heavy metal or dubstep is unsurprisingly enjoyable, and it fits the tone of the game perfectly.
The voice acting also fits quite well. Tim Phillips plays Dante as a somewhat impetuous smart-ass, but he's surprisingly likeable. The demons all sound suitably monstrous as well, but I have to mention the Succubus as a highlight. She sounds absolutely disgusting (matching the visuals), while ramping the swears up to eleven. Well played Ninja Theory.

I honestly ran into no glitches, which makes me glad, and the animations and visuals are smooth throughout the experience.

GAMEPLAY
At it's base form, DMC is your everyday hack & slash beat-em-up with intermittent platforming sections. And it does this damn well. But it does some pretty cool things control-wise. Let's face it, multiple weapons aren't knew to this kind of thing. But few games make it so easy to utilize your entire arsenal smoothly and effectively.

As the game progresses, you'll obtain around 6 or so weapons. The game helpfully maps two at a time (plus your default weapon) to the triggers. Switching between the weapons assigned to each triggers is a directional button away. This makes it so easy to swap from sword, to scythe, to big ass axe, to demon fists in a single fight. It also allows you to use firearms, mapped to another button. It makes combat very freeform, and easy to implement.

The platforming on the other hand is a bit hit or miss. At the beginning, double jumping across platformings seems very slow and not particularly enjoyable. However, with the addition of special hookshots later on, and an angel boost to clear large gaps, platforming eventually becomes really enjoyable. The main challenge ends up being remembering which hookshot to use and when.

Boss fights are challenging and inventive, but to avoid spoiling anything, that's all you'll get from me.

There's not a whole lot I can find to complain about, gameplay wise. The enemy variation is surprisingly high, and the arsenal you're provided allows for multiple approaches for almost all situations. The only thing I can hold against it is that it takes until the 3rd or so level to really pick up. But that's not really that long. So. Yea.

REPLAYABILITY
The unlocking of additional difficulty levels gives players a reason to come back after completion, but that said, playing the mode where everyone gets one hit killed without having to complete another playthrough would be nice. Aside from that, finding keys and unlocking challenge maps are probably the main draw. And they're pretty fun and challenging, despite being short. A nice diversion.

OVERVIEW
DMC: Devil May Cry is a pretty good start to 2013 for me. The gameplay is fast and smooth, with accessible controls making variation in combat a breeze. Locations are also nice and varied, with the Limbo concept being really cool. The story is pretty standard when you break it right down, but the relationship between Dante and Vergil, the lurking world of Limbo, and the way the protagonists are portrayed as evil-doers to the general public are all cool ideas. It's actually inspired me to check out the other Devil May Cry games. Newcomers to the series, like me, I can wholeheartedly recommend this game. Veterans of the DMC series, I would recommend this ONLY if you're open to a new take on Dante and his world.

Next week, I'll be doing an downloadable game roundup, featuring the Cave, Mark of the Ninja and possibly Retro City Rampage. See you next time!

Lego Lord of the Rings

Today's review is a bit late because, well, this is a one man operation here. And I do have a day job. AAAAAANYWHO. It's no secret that I thoroughly enjoy the lego games. As far as games where the point is to collect stuff to buy more stuff, they're alright in my books. And an educated guess could be made as to what my opinion on Tolkien's epic fantasy trilogy is (I love it). So, are the lego games and Lord of the Rings a match made in heaven? Read on to find out!

STORY
Lego Lord of the Rings follows the plot of the film trilogy, from Fellowship of the Ring, all the way through to the end of Return of the King. It's all played out in true Lego style, very funny with lots of visual gags. People familiar with the movies shouldn't expect many surprises here.

PRESENTATION
The first thing I'd like to talk about concerning the presentation of the game is the voice acting. While not the first Lego game to feature full voice acting, this IS the first ADAPTED story to feature it. While seeing Lego figures spout the dialogue ripped straight from the films is quite novel for a while, I must say that I miss the vague pantomime used in previous games. Since it's a story so many have seen before, I think the more visual style of the older games would have worked better in it's favour. That said, the game still features a lot of visual gags, and theres plenty to laugh about here.

Also following on from Lego Batman 2, Lego LOTR features a fully explorable Middle-Earth, from the Shire to Mordor and everywhere in between. The locations all look true to the film, and it dawns on you just how amazing it all looks when you look from the top of Minas Tirith and spot the Black Gates of Mordor, the Saruman's Tower in Isengard and the ruins of Osgiliath. It all feels like one big connected world, which makes you feel truly lost in this world.

Soundtrack-wise, the game pulls heavily from the movies, with epic orchestral scores to fit the setting and scope of the adventure. There's also the more subtle woodwind sections for the "humbler" moments (in the Shire for instance).

GAMEPLAY
This is your tried and true Lego game experience if ever there was one. You progress through levels following the adventures of the movies, using the skills of the party at hand to continue past obstructions. For example, Gimli can smash certain walls, whereas Legolas can shoot arrows and use them to jump his way up to higher ledges.
The puzzles are quite fun, even if it all comes down to knowing which character to use and when.

This all sounds very familiar, so lets move on shall we? The main story often diverges, due to the multiple stories happening at the one time. After the end of the Fellowship levels, you occasionally follow Aragorn, Legolas and Gimli, or Frodo and Sam. So that's pretty cool, giving you the option to continue with whichever story you want. However, to stop you progressing too far with certain characters, Sauron's gaze often falls upon certain areas of Middle Earth. So in a cool gameplay meshing with story moment, you must distract his gaze by playing other areas of the game. It's a small feature, but I liked it.

Also different in this Lego game is the expanding inventory. Usually, certain actions would be restricted to different classes of characters, but with the inventory it's possible to construct and use new tools, such as wall shattering axes and hammers, or fishing rods. While it sounds like a good idea in theory, I feel like this detracts from the classic gameplay style of switching between relevant characters. Using all the different characters was always part of the fun of the Lego games.

Collecting is still the name of the game, and getting new characters is still the best part of the game. Aside from that though, there's not a whole lot of variation. But, if you're a Lego game fan, you already knew that.

REPLAYABILITY
Like I said, these games are based around collecting. Collecting studs, Mithril Blocks, Characters, cheats; collect-aholics are in for a real treat. Often areas are locked during story sequences, requiring you to replay with other characters you unlock later. Then once you've collected it all, you've won. That's it.

OVERVIEW
While I love the Lego Games and LOTR, I feel like this sort of missed the mark. I'm finding it hard to figure out if I enjoyed the game more with voice acting, or if it would be funnier in pantomime. The gameplay is the standard Lego fare, but to be entirely honest, I feel like Lego LOTR needs a shot in the arm at this stage. Collecting begins to wear thing after a while.

All of that said, and I still find this game so god damn charming. It's Lego and Lord of the Rings, it's funny and somehow epic at the same time. The world has a sense of epicness to it, and the puzzles are fun, even if they are just using characters abilities correctly. So what more can I say than this? Lego Lord of the Rings sure is a Lego game. And Lord of the Ring's fans who need a new look at this story should take a look here.

Sonic & All-Stars Racing: Transformed

Today marks the second game to be reviewed for the Wii U on this website, and though it's available on other platforms, I thought it would be a suitable Wii U purchase. So without any further ado, here's what I think of Sonic & All-Stars Racing!

STORY
I suppose I have to give some kind of credit here: at least Sega didn't just tack on some nonsense story about why all these people are together and racing. But there really is NOTHING here in the way of motivation. Just race and race and race. Kart racers can have decent stories (see Modnation Racers and Crash Team Racing), so I don't see why a few minutes couldn't be set aside for writing something.

PRESENTATION
When I reviewed PS All Stars a while back, I mentioned that it's visuals and audio were a love letter to Sony's past. In that same vein is Sonic and All-Stars Racing: Transformed. The characters are all from beloved Sega franchises such as Sonic, Super Monkey Ball and Jet Set Radio Future, and their Karts look just like you would imagine them looking; B.D. Joe from Crazy Taxi drives a modified Taxi, whereas AiAi from Super Monkey Ball drives a Banana styled vehicle.

Each Kart's forms (Car, Boat, Plane) all look stunning, and the animations whilst transforming are smooth and fluid. Drifting and jumping all look natural, and theres a nice feeling of speed whilst racing.

The environments all look fantastic, with highlights being the Afterburner level, the Super Monkeyball temple and the waterfront sonic level from Sonic Heroes. Often, the landscape changes mid race, and the tracks continue to look fantastic in motion.

The music and voice acting all calls back to the many franchises on display. Sega fans are going to love revisiting these memories with the many audio and visual nods.

GAMEPLAY
I expected to pick up Sonic & Allstars Racing and find your stock standard Kart racing game, but to be honest, this isn't a cheap Mario Kart ripoff. Sure, everything handles like most other Kart games; you accelerate, you powerslide, you pick up weapons and use them against your opponents. It's all very familiar and it all handles really quite well.

The boost mechanics that come from storing a slide, doing stunts mid-air and driving over boost pads are the secret to winning, and luckily they work well, and they're easy skills to pick up and perfect.

The major difference between this and most Kart racers is the Transforming aspect. Often, you'll come across diverging paths in the track. A lot of the time, this will pass through a transform gate, forcing you to take to the skies or the seas. The Afterburner stage in particular is quite thrilling, as the action follows racers driving along the runway of an Aircraft Carrier, into the sky, then landing on another Carrier, only to drive off into the sea to navigate the waves back to the start.

Piloting through the skies feels natural, as does boating across the waves; each different transportation method is unique, and they all have their advantages\disadvantages. Flying is fast, featuring high handling levels. Sometimes it can be too touchy, and you may find yourself making a few mistakes. Taking to the water, however, is very unresponsive, but the track is often far wider, allowing for more freedom. And driving is pretty balanced comparatively.

My only gripe with this game is that on it's hardest setting, races can be damn near impossible. And to get all the unlock tokens that are available, you NEED to race on the hardest setting. It's honestly really damn frustrating.

The Wii U supplies a few different additions to this game as well. The gamepad can be used as a standard controller, supplying HUD details such as leaderboards and maps while the action is on TV. On the other hand, the action can be completely moved to the lower screen to free up the TV for other purposes.

REPLAYABILITY
This game features a number of game options, from battle modes, chao capture and boost races. If you tire of the standard racing fare, then these will definitely liven things up. Online multiplayer also makes an appearance, and local multiplayer works fine, with 5 players available on the Wii U (4 on TV, 1 on gamepad).

OVERVIEW
Sonic & All-Stars Racing: Transformed is far from the usual Mario Kart clone, with solid racing controls, racers and tracks that pull from beloved franchises and some unique transformed racing features. This game is a love letter to Sega fans. That said, the game is far from perfect. If you want to unlock everything, you're going to need a lot of unlock tokens. Playing on the hardest setting to get these can be downright impossible sometimes. Add to that the lack of context as to why these beloved characters are racing and you have a couple of reasons as to why I find myself thinking of the game as rather difficult to keep coming back to. It's by no means bad, but certain aspects of it just feel like no one even looked at the finished product.

Sega fans and Kart racing pros, get on this. Wii U gamers looking to expand their library should also look into getting this.
Well, that's all for this week. Next week, maybe Scribblenauts Unlimited. I don't know. Who knows? See you next time!

Halo 4

First review of 2012 and it's a big one from late last year that I just hadn't gotten around to finishing until recently. Now, you may or may not know this, but I was never the biggest fan of Halo as a franchise. Aside from Halo: Reach, I'd never really gotten into any of the games. For one reason or another, they don't scratch my gamer itch.
So with the covenant story arc winding down, is this the chance for me to get engrossed?

STORY
As Halo 4 opens, Master Chief awakens on the Forward Unto Dawn as it is attacked by Covenant forces. While fighting off the assailants, the ship's and everyone fighting among them are pulled down onto a mysterious planet. After learning that this is the Forerunner planet known as Requiem. In trying to escape Requiem and rejoin with UNSC forces, Chief and Cortana mistakenly free a long imprisoned Forerunner warrior, known as the Didact, who is hell bent on eradicating the Human race.

To be honest, I think Halo 4's story rushes things a bit too much. It seems like so little time between crash landing on Reqiuem, to unleashing the Didact, to escaping to the UNSC forces; it all just happens a bit fast for my liking. The story does have some high points, however. Cortana, being a rather old AI, is nearing rampancy, which she describes as when AI thinks themselves to death. The tensions between Cortana and Master Chief as her malfunctions increase and her personality frays make for some interesting scenes.

I also found it a little funny that Cortana seems to show more emotion that the Chief, and that, coupled with a question Cortana poses to him midway through the campaign, left me with a bit of a Bladerunner, is-Chief-what-we-think question near the end. I'm almost certain I'm wrong, but I just thought it was interesting.

PRESENTATION
I've never been able to fault Halo's presentation style, and Halo 4 is as stunningly pretty as you've come to expect. There's a nice variation in areas, from Forest areas, futuristic spires, rocky wasteland areas; and it's all very colourful. The only thing that annoys me about Halo 4's visuals is the amount of bloom. I prefer bright games over dark, this is true, but sometimes it's a bit too much. Everything gleams to an impossible degree. It's kind of annoying.

The soundtrack is as Epic as you'd expect for one of the headliners of the gaming medium, usually with ochestral tunes that really get you in the mood to shoot some alien bastards. Voice acting is pretty good, with Cortana's fraying psyche being portrayed about as well as you might imagine. Chief is still the stoic military badass you all (apparently) love, so it's nice to hear him actually get a little angry in certain scenes.

GAMEPLAY
In all honesty, if you've played any of the last few Halo titles before this, then Halo 4 will be as familiar to you as them. You run, you shoot, you jump, you grenade. Everything is as smooth and fluid as you could ask for. What makes this title worth noting are the new enemies and weapons.

The enemy designs of the Prometheans look great with their metallic designs and their vivid colours, but the way they impact on gameplay is the most interesting aspect. Dog-like prometheans scale walls and force you to watch all directions, while Promethean Knights can teleport, as well as spawning flying allies. These flying allies can in turn provide buffs, such as reviving destroyed allies and generating shields for them. Figuring out which enemies to deal with first and fastest is key to surviving, and blowing up these metallic foes feels truly rewarding.

As reward for taking these enemies down, you can get your hands on some sweet Promethean gear. They function somewhat similar to other weapons in the franchise, but have such a nice weight to them that I found myself always trying to keep one on hand whenever I could.

I still take a while to get my head around vehicle handling in these games, but that's probably just me. It's the whole steering with the right analog stick thing. It just feels odd. But, I guess it works.

REPLAYABILITY
Ok, one of the things that has kept Halo afloat in this industry is it's stellar multiplayer suite. While it's not my cup of tea, I do enjoy the occasional Slayer match, or Griffball game, and at the end of the day, that keeps me coming back to Halo 4 as well. On top of that, there's the Spartan Ops episodic co-op missions, so yaaay.

OVERVIEW
Halo 4 accomplishes quite a lot, at least in my eyes. It's the best looking entry in the series, with some awesome new enemies to blast, and some moments that really do their best to tug at your heart strings. Yes, it rushes things alot, and more often than not, the protagonist comes off as more of a robot than a man, but gameplay is still so fluid and fast that, in my eyes, 343's game feels almost superior than Bungie's efforts. It's at least on par with Bungie's best offering (which in my eyes, was Reach). Veteran Halo fans, get in there if you haven't already, and newcomers to the series, this is your time to jump in. A few plot points are poorly explained, but it's eaier than jumping in at Halo 3, that's for sure.

2012: The year in review

This year, I've decided to forego naming my favourite games of genres and platforms, and I've decided to just recount the highs and lows of my year in gaming instead. So let's reminisce, shall we?

To be honest, there were a lot of sequels this year. Not that that's a bad thing, but a little originality never hurt. Games that spring to mind when you say "Good Sequel" include The Darkness 2, Max Payne 3, Transformers: Fall of Cybertron and Black Ops 2. Now, don't get me wrong, I loved games like Mass Effect 3, but that game in particular didn't add a whole lot in the gameplay department. Story-wise, it's brilliant (apart from THAT unpleasantness.), but the gameplay department sort of meandered.

Assassin's Creed 3 strikes me as another great sequel, with gameplay that has taken a significant leap since the last numbered sequel in the series. Max Payne 3 utilized Rockstar's Euphoria engine to evolve the games dive-y, shoot-y bullet time gameplay into something more. It's setting may have taken it to one of the most colourful locales on the planet, but this game's story is as Noir as they come.

Lego Batman 2 improved upon the original by expanding the cast, as well as introducing something brand new to the series, voiced characters. Previously, Lego games were all slapstick and pantomime; and while that was adequate, having voice actors in the product helps make the games even funnier.

Games like Prototype 2 and New Super Mario Bros. 2 however show very little evolution in their respective franchises, let alone and changes to the formulas at all. Now, while Mass Effect 3 didn't change much gameplay wise, it at least had a great story with fantastic characters. NSMBU and Prototype 2 don't quite have that leg to stand on.

Now, even with the good and not so good sequels that came out, there was still a surprising amount of new IPs hitting store shelves. From Catherine to Kindoms of Amalur: Reckoning, to Dragon's Dogma and Lollipop Chainsaw. Now, certain games didn't get the sales that they needed, and chances of seeing a sequel to Kingdoms of Amalur: Reckoning are next to none. That's a shame, because I really felt the world and it's mythology have a lot of potential. Plus, it's such a bright visual style, it seems a shame to be wasted.

Speaking of bright visual styles, Lollipop Chainsaw certainly provided just that. It gave us some offbeat characters in a world that was more than just a little messed up, and if it had only had the gameplay to back it up, it could have been something great. Unfortunately it's gameplay often felt repetitive, and when it did try to change things up, it fell back on boring, or frustrating minigames.

Fortunately, there were some real winners in the New IP fold, and Dragon's Dogma was one of them. It gave players an interesting world, with gigantic beasts to fight, and their own hand-made Pawn to fight alongside. It also brought some interesting multiplayer ideas to the table, with other users' pawns being able to be drafted into your fold.

Last year was also a good year for some more Niche titles. Catherine, for example was a puzzle game that had you climbing a tower to survive the protagonists increasingly messed up dreams. While often frustrating, the game never felt impossible, and it's unusual story about a commitment-phobe and a crazy love triangle kept me pushing on into the early hours of the morning.

Also making it's way into the spotlight was the small squad-based Strategy game XCOM: Enemy Unknown. It's imaginative enemies, tactical freedom, and surprising difficulty made it impossible to put down. And it's a fantastic game when it comes to emergent stories. I'll never forget when my girlfriend, Lt. Lauren Annette was gunned down in cold blood. Her sacrifice was not made in vain, however, as my force of soldiers named after close friends annihilated the enemy in retaliation.

Now, I have trouble calling any game inherently bad, but there are definitely some that aren't worth your hard earned money. Medal of Honor Warfighter provided a barebones campaign, filled with glitches and very little else. At the end of the day, I had to recommend you not buy it. Same goes for Asura's Wrath and Lollipop Chainsaw, but at least give those a rental.

I'd like to cap off this post with my favourite games of 2012, and while some that I've already mentioned were great to play, these ones in particular stay vivid in my mind.

FAR CRY 3
People have been calling this Skyrim with guns, and despite having fewer side quests, that's a fairly apt description. Upgradable skills take the form of a tribal tattoo, you hunt to gather materials to make holsters and rucksacks, you can upgrade your arsenal and hold a varied assortment of weapons at any given time. Far Cry 3 gives you the choice on how you want to play, and it's one of the only games that makes any approach seem feasable.
Shotgun running through a stronghold to take out enemies? No worries. Stealthy knife kills to empty an entire camp without raising an alarm. Sure thing. You can even release captive wildlife to set it lose on your enemies. It'd be enough to be given a game where stealth actually works, but Far Cry 3 lets you adequately handle the situation if you mess up.

Add to this, the cast of colourful characters, and you've got one of my favourites of 2012.

SPEC OPS: THE LINE
On the surface, Spec Ops: The Line looks and feels like your average third person military shooter. It's mechanics work well enough, and it's visuals are pretty average. It's the game's story elements, the destroyed remains of Dubai, the rogue american forces, the increasing weariness of your companion's, it all comes to a head and it's an ending that shocked me. It makes me wish I had done things differently, but I doubt things would have been much different.

By the end, you feel as run down as the main characters, and you just want to know if you'll make it out alive. And if you do, will you be the same?

DISHONORED
After seeing alot of the trailers for Dishonored, you'd be excused for thinking it's all about killing people with a big knife. In all honesty, it's the first game I completed without killing a single person. If you pay attention, chances are you've picked up that I'm a fan of both Stealth, and Choice, something another game in my favourites group has as well.

Even if it didn't have such great stealth elements, the world and visual style of Dishonored would still force me to highly recommend this game. But as it turns out, everything it has to offer is stellar. The only complaint I can level about it is that it's too damn short.

So those were my three favourite games of 2012. What were yours? And what are we most looking forward to this year? See you next time!